Rhode Island Objective-Design-Standards Requirement (2023 H 6090) (RI)
Tracked preemption from the Rhode Island overlay bundle.
Overview
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Effective
2023-06-09
Sunset
—
Authority
state
Scope
state:RI
Other Rhode Island preemptions
Rhode Island Transit-Area Parking Maximum (2026 package, provisional)Rhode Island Village / Mixed-Use Mandate (2025 Craven/Bissaillon)Rhode Island Manufactured Housing By-Right (2024 HB 7980)Rhode Island Statewide ADU Mandate (§45-24-73, 2023 H 6082)Rhode Island I-195 Redevelopment District (§42-64.19, Providence)Rhode Island Zoning Enabling Act of 1991 (§45-24)Rhode Island Low and Moderate Income Housing Act — §45-53 (RI's 40B)Rhode Island Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Regulation Act (§45-22.2)
Primary-source summary
**Design review limits** (H 6090 / §45-24 amendments)
Municipalities may not impose aesthetic / design-review conditions that **materially reduce the number of housing units** otherwise permitted under the underlying zoning.
Design standards must be **objective** (no "community character" subjective denials for projects meeting dimensional standards).
Mirrors the California SB 330 "objective standards only" approach applied narrowly to housing.Trigger predicate
When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.
AND
city.design_review_objective_standards_only==Falseproject.use_category∈ {residential,mixed_use_residential}
Preempted fields
3 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.
| Field | Op | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
design_review.subjective_standards | prohibit | — | Discretionary aesthetic / 'community character' design review may not be used to reduce housing unit count |
design_review.standards | require | objective | Standards must be objective — measurable rather than aesthetic-judgment |
design_review.unit_count_reduction | prohibit | — |
Citation
Authority source
2023 H 6090, amending R.I. Gen. Laws §45-24
§ 2023 H 6090 (Objective Design Standards)
Research notes
Mirrors California SB 330's 'objective standards only' approach, applied narrowly to housing projects. Municipalities may keep design review but standards must be objective and may not materially reduce permitted unit counts. Important for project-pro-forma planning: discretionary design risk for code-conforming housing projects is statutorily curtailed.